Field Notes: Day Four

Today was a very exciting day! Up at the manor house, we identified a new architectural feature – a possible gravel pathway – which may help us answer one of our more pressing questions: which way did the house face? In the Peale painting of William Smith and his grandson, the house appears to be facing west, but it is difficult to tell. With this new feature and other clues, we hope to piece together a more complete picture of the house and grounds.

In other news: from the very beginning, we’ve found traces of an earlier occupation at the site, and we know that John Broad and his family lived in the area from 1690 (and likely earlier) through the 1740s. Today, we’ve finally found intact deposits associated ONLY with this earlier occupation! We know very, very little about life in this region at that time, so this is a tremendous discovery – and this makes Eutaw the earliest historical archaeological site in Baltimore City to date!